


The Pox Gone Wrong

by A_R



Series: Red Dead Redemption 2 Stories [1]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Gen, Please Don't Hate Me, Please Don't Kill Me, Poor Arthur, Red Dead Redemption 2 Spoilers, Video Game: Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 18:35:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20030437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_R/pseuds/A_R
Summary: After weeks of being gone from camp, Arthur seems to be hit with horrible luck on his return home. Dying before getting back to camp is not an option, yet the cost of surviving is disastrous.





	The Pox Gone Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> This story was based off of a small piece of dialog after The Pox interaction, where if you let the Murfree Broods rob you and escape, one of them will say "[If] we stay I might wanna do something else..." and in my mind I thought this would be an interesting short story. But I felt guilty because I didn't want our poor Arthur to suffer as much as I planned for this story to go. This short has some small spoilers, so if you haven't finished the game yet you have been warned! I'm thinking about making this more than one chapter but I haven't decided yet... I'll let y'all decide if I should or not, just let me know in the comments. By the way please make sure you read the tags, there are some warnings for attempted rape, so please don't read if you are sensitive to these topics. Other than that, I spent a long time working on this so I hope you enjoy the story and please tell me what you thought of it in the comments. Thank you!

The click of the safety lock being pulled was deafening as he froze in shock. His breath stopping mid flow as he was suddenly staring down the barrel of a gun. 

“Hands up! You tryna rob a sick man?” the voice behind the barrel spoke. Slowly he rose his arms to show he was unarmed. 

“I was tryna help…” Arthur argues back to the grungy looking man with short balding hair. He looks to his side once he hears a second pair of footsteps come from behind him. Another dirty man, this time with long disheveled hair, steps into view pointing a pistol at his head. 

“Bullshit you was” the new man quarrels back.

“You move and I’ll shoot you” the first man threatens, his rifle still pointing to Arthur’s head. Arthur has to stop himself from stepping back when the long haired man walks closer, his hand reaching into Arthur’s satchel roaming around for money. The balding man stares, watching Arthurs every breath as if it was a clue on how he would try to escape.

Sure, Arthur wasn’t fine with letting these men handle him and his stuff as they wanted, but it would have to suffice for he had barely enough energy to raise his arms after the unfortunate tumble his leopard coat appaloosa, Lea, took trying to outrun a wolf. They had flown over a large tree trunk only for Lea to lose her footing, causing her to crash onto the floor and send him flying into a nearby boulder, hitting his head hard enough to send his thoughts for a swim in a whirlpool. His whole body ached as he heard the voice calling out desperately. 

His curiosity got the best of him and he pulled himself up, telling Lea to stay after he fed her some hay and checked her over to make sure she wasn’t badly injured, besides the decent sized cut on her knee. Slowly he walked the short distance towards the cry and reached the small tent housing the sick man inside. With the spinning in his head he didn’t see the warning signs blaring in his head telling him to just get back on Lea and leave. Arthur walked carefully up to the opening of the tent and pulled the flap enough to stare back into the barrel of a rifle.

With the series of events being replayed in his head, Arthur finally registered the danger and flung his hand to his volcanic pistol only to be pistol whipped by the man with the longer hair. Arthur grunts in pain as he falls to the floor blood dripping from the new cut on his temple. He wasn’t fast enough. He grimaces as the man seems to stomp between his shoulder blades to keep him in place. His body once again aches with pain, muddling his thoughts.

“Lets get going” the first man proposes to the other. 

The man holding Arthur down seems to pause for a moment thinking the idea over, rolling it around the depths of his mind. After what seemed like a life time to Arthur, the man finally spoke, “ya know I kinda wanna do something else… I mean he has a nice shape that I wouldn’t mind holding. Plus he ain’t gonna put much of a fight by the way he’s acting now.”

As soon as the words slithered out of his mouth, Arthur tensed and soon started wriggling around, trying his best to regain his bearings and gather enough energy to overthrow the man. He gasped as once again, the foot on top him stomps downward, taking the breathe from his struggling lungs. The first man seems to consider the scheme suggested to him and out of the corner of Arhur’s eye, he can see him nod in agreement with a sly smirk on his features.

Arthur winced as he was pulled onto his knees by his hair. Arthur’s hands quickly grabbed at the man’s hard, calloused one in hope of freeing himself. He then saw the other man come closer to him, rope in his hand. Arthur’s struggle increased when his hands were pulled away from their spot. He then yanked his hands from the weakened hold on them and elbowed the man pulling at his hair. The man doubled over and Arthur rolled to the side away from the first man, still holding the rope in his hands, who was charging him in hopes of tackling him.

Arthur scrambles to his feet, reaching for his other pistol still in it’s holster. Once he has it in hand he shoots the man once again charging him. The mans body falling onto the floor with a heavy thud. Before Arthur can look up from the dead body something painfully hard hits him in the back of the head. All he can make out is a mumbled “shit” as he falls forward, his hands clutching his head as he lands on the floor. His vision slowly ebbing away.

As soon as he makes contact with the cold floor, he feels hands pinning him to the floor. His arms forced above his head as the man ties them in a tight knot with rope. Arthur squirms trying to escape the hold on his body, only for his head to be pushed into the dirt beneath him, keeping him from breathing.

The hands track their way down to Arthur’s belt. The man stops at the sound of hooves beating in the distance. Arthur doesn’t waste the chance and throws his head back in hopes of hitting the man.

“Goddamnit!” the man yells as he falls backwards clutching his nose in pain. The hoofbeats seem to stop for a second as if they were listening for another sign of their location. Arthur than flips over and kicks the man in his crotch. The man lets out a yell and curls forward in an attempt to alleviate the pain. The hoofbeats start towards them slowly this time. 

Arthur reaches quickly for his knife and lunges toward the man in front of him. He raises his bound hands and snaps them down landing the knife into the flesh of the man beneath him. He repeats this over and over until he hears the sound of footsteps to his left. He rapidly raises the knife in the direction of the sound. Danger glinting in his eyes as a warning to the new stranger. 

He gets up onto his feet slowly and backs up, knife remaining in his hand as the footsteps still come closer. His head throbs as he tenses up at the sight of the silhouette of another man inching towards him.

“Arthur?” the smooth sound of the voice causes him to deflate.

“Charles…” he drops the knife to the floor as his injuries catch up to him causing his vision to swim once again. He stumbles forward dropping to his knees in the process. Charles’ rough hands seem to catch him and ease him down to the ground, propping his head on his lap. “It sure is nice to see your face after all this” Arthur chuckles to himself softly. His hands are raised as Charles gets to work sawing off the rope.

“You were gone for so many days, you were starting to get us all worried. They sent me and Micah to look for you” Charles speaks softly as he cuts the last strings of rope.

“Yeah, well he don’t care bout no one. In fact I betcha if he found me first, he woulda finished the job,” Arthur replies groggily. Charles lightly lifts up one of Arthur’s arms to place around his neck. Once they are standing Charles tries to walk only to be stopped as Arthur stands in place. “Wait, I gotta get Lea... “ Arthur unwraps his arm from Charles and stumbles as he tries to walk towards the trees on the other side of the small clearing. “Her leg’s cut and she’s probably scared right now after all those gunshots,” Arthur stumbles forward once again but Charles catches him this time.

“Arthur you need to relax, you’re in no state to be walking far. I’ll get her, you just get on Taima and rest,” Charles maneuvers Arthur back towards Taima, calling her to come closer. Once they reach her, Charles helps Arthur onto the saddle. “Now stay here and don’t try to move around too much.” with that said Charles walks in the area Arthur was previously trying to go.

Arthur sighs and leans forward, resting his head on Taima’s crest. His head still pulsating as he closes his eyes. A few moments later hoofbeats and footsteps echo in his ears and he opens his eyes to find Charles leading Lea, coaxing her to continue walking.

Charles walks towards Taima and ties Lea to Taima’s saddle horn. Lea snorts once she sees Arthur and nudges his arm with her muzzle. “She seems to have been worried about you too” Charles comments as he moves to get on Taima’s saddle in front of Arthur. Once Charles settles down, Arthur rests his head against his back.

“You think so?” Arthur asks him once they start moving. Vibrations rumble down Charles back as he hums in agreement. Arthur closes his eyes once again and relaxes his body. After a while Charles speeds up from a walk to a trot, causing Arthur to look up. 

“We should get out of here quickly in case anyone shows up. We just can’t seem like we’re running from some thing,” Charles tells Arthur.

“Well don’t you think it’ll attract attention with me riding with you?” Arthur questions him.

“Not when you look like a wolf attacked you and your horse,” Charles remarks.

“Yeah well you’re right on that one, how do you think Lea got her injuries,” Arthur sighs, leaving a moment of silence between the two men, “Do we look that bad?” Arthur looks to the side, pating Lea’s poll lightly.

“Lea’s not too bad, but you on the other hand look horrible,” Charles pauses, ”what happened back there Arthur?” 

“It’s nothing you need to worry about, I’ll be fine in a few minutes…”

“Stop trying to act selfless, I’m worried about you.. I just want to help. If you don’t want me to, just promise me you’ll get help from someone else. You’re just as important me as everyone else.” Charles rants to Arthur, making sure he understands each word coming out of his mouth.

~~~~

“Who goes there?” a heavily accented voice yells, cutting through the thick silence.

“It’s Charles! Tell Miss Grimshaw to prepare the medical supplies,” Arthur winces at the shouting as it starts up a ringing in his ears. Taima walks them to the edge of camp and stops for Charles to hitch her and Lea to the post. Once Charles reaches for Arthur, it seems the whole camp appears out of nowhere. The women gasp as Arthur jerkily slides off of Taima. The men seem murmur amongst themselves.

“My son! I thought you were dead!” Dutch pushes through the group in order to face Arthur, “Micah came back earlier with your hat saying that was all that was left of you, that a bear had got you…”

“What’d I tellya..” Arthur slurs to Charles as he slumps over with his eyes clenched closed trying to keep the world from spinning.

“All of you move! Come here Mister Morgan. All of you start helping and stop standing like some stupefied statue!” Miss Grimshaw grumbles as she takes Arthur’s arm, watching the others scatter leaving only Charles and Dutch behind.

They walk to the makeshift medical tent and Arthur plops onto the bed with a rough grunt. Miss Grimshaw’s orders flying around the camp were the last thing he heard as he zoned out.

_ Why was his day going so bad? He was just on his way back to the camp when that wolf jumped out of nowhere, spooking Lea into a full on run as it continued to chase and nip at her legs. Then once they were in the clear Lea slipped and crashed forward into what looked almost like a front flip. He remembers opening his eyes and the light in the sky was fading rapidly. The pain numbing his entirety didn’t go unnoticed when he tried to lift his heavy body from the cold hard rock painted with his blood. From that moment every thing was a disastrous blur. _

~~~~

Arthur opened his eyes to the sun coming through the slit of makeshift curtains. It would have been peaceful if he awoke to the sound of the chirping birds and not shouting voices echoing through out the camp. He sat up in the cot holding his head, gathering up the strength to get up and see what the all the commotion was about.

He got to his feet slowly, clutching at his head still. His eyes were met with an angry John being held back by Abigail and a tense Charles between him and Micah.

“What in the everloving hell is going on here?” Arthur grumbles as he stumbles forward.

“Oh lookie here it’s the wonder man himself!” Micah snickers loudly.

“Don’t you start that shit with me” Arthur replies tiredly once he sits on the nearest box.

“This bastard left you to die just like me! I have a feeling it’s his fault everything has been going bad for us,” John shouts to Arthur while pointing towards Micah, like an accusing child trying to lay blame on their sibling.

“John-” Arthur starts.

“He did not do such things. So I suggest you apologize to everyone, including Micah, for causing this ruckus John. It seems your ‘family’ has started poisoning your brain against us,” Dutch steps out of his tent with a killer stare focused on the father. His words leaving a deathly silence around the entire camp.

“Don’t do it John. It ain’t your fault,” Arthur looks to the shocked man.

After a few long seconds John’s voice cuts through the tense atmosphere. “I- I’m sorry for waking you all up,” he looks up to Micah’s smirking face then back down, “and i’m sorry Micah for accusing you of abandoning us.” with that John slowly backs up and turns to walk to the hitching post with his horse.

“Dutch-” Arthur gapes at their leader.

“I thought you would be faithful Arthur,” Dutch interrupts coldly as he glares at the weak man in front of him.


End file.
